01/12/2011

KCPE results 2011

As the Christmas season approaches, so too will the announcement of the KCPE

results 2011 near. To be sure, the exam is the only yardstick used for the screening of students to high schools. Even though MP Jeremiah Kioni had been vocal in calling for the abolition of the exams, parliament kicked out the motion that would have seen the exams done away with. In his opinion, the MP claimed that the exam had unfairly cut out many youth from proceeding to secondary schools, and thus curtailing their educational and professional ladders. Now, an education expert may ask, really, can the mass dropout of standard eight candidates be attributed to the KCPE exams alone? What if all the candidates were allowed to proceed to secondary schools, would there be enough places for them? May be the MP should have dealt with that topic first of all.

As usual, the KCPE results 2011 will most likely reflect the growing inequities between the rich and the poor. Last year, the education minister came to the rescue of public school candidates by imposing a 2:1 ration for admission to national schools. i.e. national schools will only admit two students from public primary schools for every student admitted from the private primary schools. This is in addition to the district quota that has been in place ever since KCPE was incepted back in 1985. Of course, the Private schools came out crying, terming the move as unfair, discriminatory even, but the ministry of education stuck to its grounds that the policy will be maintained. We wonder whether that move is going to be replicated again this year. However, as the number of national schools continues to be increased in every county, it is hoped that the pressure to join the few national schools, the “Alliances” and the “Starehe’s” will reduce for the time being.

Otherwise, even as the KCPE results 2011 will be announced, all the best to the candidates, knowing that a pass is just an opportunity to work harder while a fail does not in any way imply that one will not succeed in life later, there have been countless examples of candidates that did not perform well in their initial years of schooling but suddenly excelled in later years. Such names include PS Karega Mutahi as well as Coleastus Juma, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of government, and who has been involved in the One laptop per Child Project; the above two certainly did not do very well in their primary and high school years, but they nonetheless reached the pinnacle of their academic careers.Article by Mabinda C.O.K

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